Seniors Try to Stay Attuned to Change

With their school having seemingly given up on their last season by A) firing their coach, B) replacing him with a lame duck interim coach and C) hiring a nationally known guy who won’t take over officially until April 1, the six USC seniors are trying hard not to feel sorry for themselves.

“It could be easy to just tune out and say the year’s basically over,” said guard Errick Craven, who has had a particularly tough week in practice. “Regardless, you’ve just got to play hard. It’s mostly for pride now. If you tune out, it shows a lack of character, though it would be easy to tune out.

“It’s strange. Some days you don’t want to be out there and it’s really easy to tune out.”

With USC playing host to Western Michigan today before leaving Sunday for Hawaii and the Rainbow Classic, it’s gut-check time for the Trojans, who have gone from Henry Bibby to Jim Saia to Rick Majerus in 12 days.

“I’m trying to motivate them,” said Saia, the interim coach. “They’re going to have to decide now how bad they want it. I’m not going to sacrifice principles. I’m going to play the best players that give us the best chance to win, if it’s a walk-on, a freshman or a senior.”

Senior center Rory O’Neil, the lone Trojan to start every game this season, did not take it personally when Saia played him only six second-half minutes of the Trojans’ defeat of San Diego.

“He’s coaching like he’s going to be here the rest of his life and as seniors, we have to treasure every moment,” O’Neil said. “That’s always the cure, just playing the games.”

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Majerus met briefly with the team after being introduced at USC on Wednesday. Although he was supposed to meet with each coach individually as well as the underclassmen as a group, he has met only with Saia.

“I don’t want to talk to the young guys until they get back from Hawaii,” said Majerus, whose technical title is assistant. “I’d really like to see them beat Western Michigan and go to Hawaii and not worry about anything. I’m very conscious about those seniors ... because it’s their team and Saia’s got a tough job.”

And although Majerus had said he would leave the team and staff alone until April, he is utilizing assistant Eric Brown for recruiting duties, though nothing is guaranteed.

“I’m looking for positive signs,” said Brown, who has made known his desire to work for Majerus.

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TODAY

vs. Western Michigan, noon, FSNW

Site -- Sports Arena.

Radio -- KMPC (1540), KSPA (1510), XEMM (800).

Records -- USC 3-3, Western Michigan 6-2.

Update -- The Broncos are led by senior forward Levi Rost (16.8 points).